Sense of identity

The detail is in the small things at Gyanodaya. When you step into the elevator, there are bright posters on either side, with greetings in Thai and Chinese and various other languages representing all the countries that the AV Birla group has a presence in. Over the course of a five day programme, the managers are exposed to cuisine like Chinese, Thai and Continental fare.

“A lot of the managers are based in remote locations and may not have had much exposure to non-Indian cuisine. With the group expanding, they do need to travel to international markets and at such times, this basic exposure to culture and cuisine helps,” explains Raju Mistry, group head - Leadership Development , AV Group.

One of the things that sets this ISO certified institute apart from the other corporate leadership development institutes in India is its relative proximity to the group headquarters. While the Tata, Mahindra and Infosys institutes are all several hours away from their headquarters, Gyanodaya in Belapur is less than an hour away from the AV Birla group headquarters in Worli. “Location was an important issue,” says Santrupt Misra, director, Group HR & IT, Aditya Birla Management Corporation . “We didn’t want our managers to spend too much time travelling when that time could be utilised at the institute instead.”

Designed by Hafeez Contractor, the institute is spread over 10,000 square feet in a relatively quiet part of the satellite city, with rooms named Dhyaan and Tapas, keeping in mind the different parts of the learning process. While the rooms are well equipped and employees have access to a well-stocked library and a gym, television sets are conspicuous by their absence in all the rooms. The dining room is surrounded by a terrace lawn.

The Institute of Management Learning , as it is also known, does not have any full-time faculty members but the staff works on designing the training programmes and finding the suitable professors for the programmes. The senior management is involved in the programmes, right from setting the context to developing the course design and programme details. In the past year, the institute has hosted close to a 100 programmes, out of which about 35 were designed by Gyanodaya. These programmes alone saw about 550 people come into Gyanodaya (the rest were done by group companies).

“Gyanodaya was important to creating a sense of identity in the group,” Misra says, “The country was opening up, we had a new leader in Kumar Mangalam Birla and the group needed a new identity which would define our image and future.”

Even as Gyanodaya makes plans to scale up its existing programmes, the management is clear that the institute is not open to non-group companies . “This is one asset the group does not want to sweat,” says Mistry. “The idea is not to make money but invest long term in the company’s development ,” she adds.

A large part of the calendar includes programmes aimed at the deputy general managers and above, though a programme for junior managers has been introduced recently. The programmes run for between two days and two weeks, and all of them are residential programmes, even if the employee is based in Mumbai. The idea is to ensure that employees from different group companies interact and network and provides a platform for mingling within the group. As a part of its expansion plans, Gyanodaya has already started outreach programmes for managers outside Mumbai. In this case, certified trainers are sent to the given location who conduct the programme.